TOBRUK GARRISON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 November 1941, Page 5

TOBRUK GARRISON

IN CONTACT WITH RELIEVING FORCES NEW ZEALANDERS AND BRITISH TANKS TAKE SIDI REZEGH

BITTER OPPOSITION OVERCOME BY NEW ZEALANDERS More Hard Fighting in Prospect IN ORDER TO COMPLETE JUNCTION CORRESPONDENT’S STORY OF MEETING AT DAWN LONDON, November 27. British forces from Tobruk have joined hands with some of the relieving forces and Sidi Rezegh has been captured, m spite of stiff opposition, by New Zealand troops supported y British tanks. These are the latest developments m the great Llby |he b story of how the British forces from Tobruk have linked up with our troops advancing from the east is told by a correspondent in Libya. The forces met at a point miles south-east of Tobruk and four miles north-west of Sidi Rezegh, which has been recaptured by our troops. The corresponden describes the dramatic moment when our troops from Tobruk, after forcing their way through the Axis defences, linked up with the New Zealanders, who had driven a wedge into the German forces. The New Zealanders, with United Kingdom tanks, at the first sign.of daylight, saw ahead the forces \rom Tobruk in battle formation. The two forces had to be identified and approached warily until recognition had been established. This was the first time since April 11 that the men of the Tobruk garrison had made contact with our forces by land. The drive by the New Zealanders was made against bitter opposition by German tanks and infantry, of whom a heavy toll was taken in men and machines. It is pointed out that only advanced forces of our troops have joined hands with the Tobruk forces. A military spokesman says there are still a number of pockets of German resistance and there was stiff fighting to come before they could say the link up was complete. If the junction is maintained and the breach in the enemy’s lines widened, the British will be able to use Tobruk as a base for supplies for the field forces and thus relieve the 200-mile transport route across the desert. TANK RAIDERS WELL HARRIED The latest news of the German raiding column which made for the Egyptian frontier is that it is being harried by British armoured and other forces. In various brushes yesterday five tanks, 80 other vehicles and 300 prisoners, mostly Germans, were captured. Although this raid had a certain nuisance value, it did not divert the British forces from their main object. A Cairo spokesman pointed out that there was a debit side for the Germans in the fact that every man and every tank employed in the raid was a loss to the enemy main forces. The general atmosphere in Cairo is one of quiet and assured confidence, as it has been since the battle started over a week ago.